The Cat

5

Roman woke up the next morning with a fluffy black tail in his face. The four of them had ended up falling asleep on the couch halfway through Into the Spiderverse.

"Hey kiddo." Patton whispered from the kitchen, "careful not to wake Lo or Virge."

Roman nodded, carefully moving the nekos tail out of the way before getting up.

"Do you think Virge has ever had tuna?" Patton asked as he made tuna melts.

"Probably not." Roman sighed, "from what Remus and Janus have told me, most nekos they rescue are fed actual cat food."

Patton wrinkled his nose, "that's horrible and gross!"

"Wha' smells so good?" Virgil yawned, walking into the kitchen.

"Tuna melts!" Patton giggled, "they're almost done if you wanna get Lo up."

"M'kay." Virgil rubbed his eyes, his tail dragging sleepily along the floor.

Patton sighed, "I wish we could have rescued him sooner."

"I do too." Roman nodded, "but we have him now and hes helping to find all the other nekos."

Patton smiled softly, "that's a nice thought."

There was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Patton said.

Patton opened the door to some police officers.

"Hi!" Patton greeted them, "can I help you?"

"Yes, we're here for the neko." The first officer said.

"Oh! Are you here to ask him some questions?" Patton asked.

"Were here to take it away on suspicion of enslavement." The officer said, pushing his way into the house.

"Wha-!?" Patton yelled as he was knocked back.

"What's going on here!?" Roman demanded as the officers marched into the house.

"Grab it." The first officer nodded to another officer.

The second officer went I to the living room.

There was a scream.

"Stop!"

"What do you think you are doing!?"

The second officer came back, holding Virgil by the scruff of his neck. Logan quickly followed.

"What are you doing with him!" Roman demanded.

"Were taking it away." The first officer said.

"On what grounds." Logan asked, crossing his arms.

The officer narrowed his eyes, "suspected enslavement."

"Were is your warrant then?" Logan asked.

"We dont need one if given valid reason." The officer said.

"Hearsay is not a valid reason. You must be able to be an eye witness for it to be valid." Logan said.

"Listen here boy!" The officer yelled, "I'm the head of this case! You're keeping this neko in your home without authorization!"

"Actually, we do have authorization to house an underage neko as well as a plan to give him his own authorization to live with humans once he is if age, it's on the table there." Logan pointed, "I submitted it yesterday. As head of the case I would have thought you'd know that."

The officer went red, "fine. Drop it."

The other officer dropped Virgil, who scrambled to hide behind Roman. The officers left.

"Oh Virgil! Are you okay?" Patton rushed to give him a hug.

"I was s-so scared." Virgil whimpered.

"Did they hurt you?" Roman asked, noticing the red marks on the back of his neck.

Virgil shook his head, "n-no."

"Okay kiddo." Patton said, "why dont you, Lo, and Ro go calm down while I finish lunch?"

"O-okay." Virgil stood up shakily, causing Roman to just pick him up and carry him to the couch.

"Virgil, do you need anything?" Logan asked.

Virgil shook his head, "t-thank you for saving me."

"Well, the had no right to try and take you away." Logan said.

"Okay kiddos!" Patton smiled, bringing in a tray of tuna melts, "lunch is done!"

"Thanks Dad." Virgil said, taking some food.

Virgil bit into the food and his eyes lit up.

"This's sho goo'!" Virgil yelled with his mouth full.

"Chew your food Virgil, you'll choke." Logan said.

Virgil nodded and swallowed the food before continuing, "it's so good! What is it?"

"Its tuna." Patton giggled, "it's a type of fish."

"I've never had fish before!" Virgil said, "I only heard about it from another neko."

"Then tomorrow I'll get some salmon and we'll have a seafood feast!" Roman grinned.

"Hopefully nothing too expensive." Logan raised an eyebrow.

"Of course!" Roman laughed, "just some salmon, oysters, maybe some crab if it's on sale!"

Patton gasped, "one of my coworkers is giving me some halibut tomorrow too!"

"Fantastic!" Roman smiled.

"Whats... all that?" Virgil asked.

"It's food that comes from the ocean." Logan said, "sometimes it's an acquired taste."

Virgil nodded slowly, finishing his lunch with a smile.

Patton gasped again, "we should invite Remus and Janus!"

Roman seemed to debate with himself, "fine. It's a big occasion after all!"

"Yay!" Patton giggled, "I'll give them a call!"

Virgil watched as the two excitedly ran around the house. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.